Forensic science has leapt forward dramatically over the past two centuries. What began as rumor‑laden accusations and shaky testimony has blossomed into a sophisticated web of DNA profiling, video surveillance, data mining, and the hard‑core physical sciences. One branch of the latter— forensic dentistry—has repeatedly proven its worth. Although bite‑mark analysis has fallen out of favor in many jurisdictions and sparked heated debate, other dental techniques such as DNA fingerprinting from teeth, age estimation, and post‑mortem identification remain indispensable. In this top 10 criminal roundup, we’ll see how human teeth have either cracked cases wide open or, occasionally, led investigators down a misleading path.
Why the Top 10 Criminal Cases Matter
10 Aggrippina and Lollia Paulina’s Golden Teeth
The saga of Lollia Paulina is often cited as the earliest recorded instance of forensic dentistry being used to identify a corpse. Some even argue it marks the birth of forensic science itself. Either way, her golden dental work played a starring role in solving the mystery.
In a power struggle for the Roman throne, Agrippina the Younger coveted Emperor Claudius and saw Lollia Paulina as a rival. After winning Claudius’s hand, Agrippina moved swiftly: she accused Lollia of sorcery, secured a conviction, stripped her of property, exiled her, and ultimately ordered her to take her own life. When a guard presented Agrippina with Lollia’s severed head as proof, the facial features were distorted beyond recognition by death, dismemberment, and the journey home. To confirm the identity, Agrippina turned to the only unmistakable clue—Lollia’s famously gilded teeth. By opening the skull’s jaw and spotting the gold‑filled dental work, she verified that the head was indeed her rival’s, marking what is believed to be the first forensic dental identification.
9 Reverend George Burroughs
The 1692 Salem Witch Trials remain a grim chapter in early American jurisprudence, and they also feature a bizarre forensic episode involving a bite mark. Among the many innocent victims of the hysteria was Reverend George Burroughs, who was accused of consorting with the devil.
One of the accusations hinged on a bite imprint allegedly left on a young victim’s arm. Investigators compared the mark visually to Burroughs’s teeth, and that superficial match was enough to seal his fate: he was convicted and hanged. Decades later, historians exonerated him, but his case stands as the first instance in the United States where bite evidence was presented as a key piece of proof.
8 Jesse Timmendequas and Megan’s Law
Today, every U.S. state enforces Megan’s Law, a set of statutes that make sex offender details—names, photos, addresses—publicly accessible. The law’s origins trace back to a tragic 1994 case involving a young girl named Megan Kanka.
Megan was brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas. While a myriad of evidence led to his conviction, one striking piece was a bite mark Megan managed to leave on Timmendequas’s hand as she fought back. That dental imprint helped seal his guilt, and the case ultimately spurred the nationwide push for the child‑protection legislation we now know as Megan’s Law.
7 Thomas Maupin’s Dentures
In the spring of 2001, a woman walking alone on a deserted stretch of road near Memphis, Tennessee, was violently attacked. She survived a stabbing and rape, reported the crime, and investigators collected a trove of forensic evidence at the scene.
Despite the wealth of material, the perpetrator remained at large—until a decade later. Among the evidence was a set of dentures that had been overlooked initially. When the case was reopened, forensic analysts examined the dentures and discovered a handwritten name inside them, linking them directly to the attacker. That revelation led police to Thomas Maupin, who was subsequently arrested and convicted for the assault.
6 Fredrik Fasting Torgersen
The Norwegian case of Fredrik Fasting Torgersen remains a cautionary tale about the perils of over‑reliance on bite‑mark testimony. In 1958, Torgersen was charged with the rape and murder of a young girl, despite a glaring lack of physical evidence linking him to the crime scene.
During the trial, a self‑styled expert witness asserted that a bite mark found on the victim’s breast “with full certainty pointed to Torgersen as the murderer.” This claim became the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case, even though no other corroborating evidence existed.
Over the ensuing decades, the bite‑mark evidence has been heavily scrutinized and widely criticized as scientifically unsound. After serving 16 years of a life sentence, Torgersen was released, and the case continues to spark debate about the reliability of forensic odontology in criminal justice.
5 Bundy’s Big Bite
Ted Bundy, the charismatic yet murderous serial killer, confessed to the deaths of 30 women during the 1970s and admitted to numerous additional kidnappings and rapes. His cunning allowed him to evade capture for years, leaving scant physical evidence behind.
One of the few tangible clues emerged during an attack on a sorority house, where a victim sustained a deep bite on her left buttock. Forensic odontologists Richard Souviron and Lowell Levine created dental casts of Bundy’s teeth and matched them to the imprint, providing a critical link that helped secure his conviction and ultimately end his reign of terror.
4 Sharon Carr’s Cheetos Teeth
In early 2001, a frantic 911 call reported an intruder inside a home where a mother was alone with her two children. The intruder lingered before fleeing through an open window, leaving behind a water bottle and an empty bag of Cheetos.
Police arrived to find the house empty but noted the discarded items. While canvassing the area, officers discovered the intruder, Sharon Carr, hiding in nearby bushes. The breakthrough came when they observed a fine layer of Cheetos dust coating her teeth, a distinctive clue that confirmed her presence at the scene.
This seemingly minor piece of evidence—Cheetos residue on a suspect’s teeth—demonstrates how even the most unconventional forensic clues can clinch a case.
3 Ray Krone Overturned
In 1992, Ray Krone was convicted of murder and labeled the “Snaggletooth Killer,” largely on the strength of bite‑mark analysis that supposedly linked his dental pattern to injuries on the victim’s body.
Like the Norwegian case, Krone’s conviction rested on tenuous bite evidence. However, DNA testing later exonerated him, identifying the true perpetrator, Kenneth Phillips, a repeat sexual offender. Since his release, Krone has worked with the Innocence Project, advocating against the death penalty and highlighting the necessity of DNA evidence to correct wrongful convictions.
2 John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy, infamously known as the “Killer Clown,” murdered at least 33 young men, many of whom were sexually assaulted and tortured. The discovery of his victims proved a monumental forensic challenge.
Police unearthed 26 bodies from the crawlspace beneath Gacy’s home. Dental records were instrumental in identifying 23 of those victims. In the years since, additional victims have been recovered from the Des Plaines River, with many identified through dental DNA analysis, underscoring the enduring value of forensic dentistry in resolving cold cases.
1 Josef Mengele Identified
Josef Mengele, the notorious “Angel of Death,” conducted horrific medical experiments on Auschwitz prisoners. After World War II, he evaded justice, fleeing to Argentina, then Paraguay, and finally Brazil, assuming multiple identities.
In 1979, while swimming, Mengele suffered a stroke and drowned. His body was recovered under an assumed name, and for decades his fate remained a mystery. It wasn’t until Brazilian and American dentists compared post‑mortem skull X‑rays with those taken years earlier by a Brazilian dentist who had treated Mengele that a definitive identification was made.
American dental scientist Lowell J. Levine declared that the remains could now be identified as Josef Mengele “with absolute certainty.” Thus, the final piece of forensic evidence—teeth—closed the chapter on one of history’s most infamous war criminals.